very sharp language, for lying in bed after, not my way: I always endeavour to disImyself was up, that is to say, after 5 o'clock. charge my duty towards the community: These were the only times that I ever I, in such cases, look upon the crime not even found fault with him, as far as I can as committed against me, but against the recollect. On the 2nd of March, that public; and I act accordingly. Upon is to say, the next morning, the boy got up this principle it was, that, when the boy very early and set off from his service. had escaped, I spet ains or expence His sister, Mary Burgess, who, was to recover him. He has cost me moie, also a servant in my house, was then sent probably, in advertisements, than he would by me to tell her parents, and the boy too, have earned during the year; but, what if she found him at home, that, if he came of that? I have caught him at last; he back again that day, I would forgive him; has been sent to prison; and the example but, that, if he did not, nothing upon will be of general utility. What a villainearth should induce me to forgive him. ous thing must it bei e to do that He did not come back. I, according to which shall induce people in this rank of my word, got a warrant for him from MR. life to set contracts at nought; to think SMITH of Southampton, and delivered it to nothing of their engagements; to make Mr. Astlett, the constable of Botley, in agreements with a fraudulent intention; order that he might take up the boy, to teach them all the tricks and quirks of which he did on the 3rd of March, and pettifoggers; to make them clever in no having brought him to Botley, the boy thing but roguery; to give that turn to escaped, which escape produced the pre- their minds, which, in the end, must lead tended false-imprisonment of the plaintiff, them to the gallows. What a villainous WM. BURGESS, the brother of Jesse, and thing it must be for any one to do this? which also gave a handle for the bringing | -Before the boy was taken up and sent of the action. But, before we go to to prison, there might be some ground for that, let us finish the story of Jesse, who, supposing that he had been ill-used; but, in the first instance, was to have all the after that, there could be none, especially wages he asked, and was told, that, if he when the circumstances, under which he behaved well, he should have more. He was committed, are known. I shall bylived as well as I myself did; he went to and-by speak of these circumstances, bed when he pleased; he had a good fire which form a sort of under-plot in the to sit by; he had every thing that heart grand drama. Suffice it, at present, to say, could wish; but, I insisted upon his getting that the boy was taken at Winchester, in up early in the morning, having full as much the very room where the Attorney had detestation for a sluggard as I have for a his witness, and was, after a full examithief. Of this he had fair warning when nation, and a remarkably patient hearing he was hired. He was told, over and over of all he had to say, committed to prison. again, that he must rise early; that, as to This, of itself, is a pretty good proof, that other things, I might look over a good he was used well while at my house, and deal, but that I never would overlook his that he had no real ground of complaint, lying late in bed. Boys are, however, and, consequently, no reasonable cause for apt to be sleepy, and, if he had came back, quitting my service. The editors of the when his sister went for him, I should Portsmouth paper, amongst the many merely have told him to get himself ano- falshoods, which they have knowingly ther master, his services being, in fact, stated, have this, "that the boy was not a not worth to me, the half, no, nor the “servant in husbandry." If so, what pretty fifth part, of his food, living in the manner magistrates must those be, who committed that he lived. But, there was, in the case him to prison for quitting my service? I of a servant running away and setting me mention this as one instance of the length, at defiance, a duty which I owed to the to which these retailers of falshood will go. community, and especially to my neigh-In fact, they stick at nothing. There is no bours, occupying lands, who must have experienced great injury from such an example, if this boy had been suffered to get off with impunity. There are many persons, who, in such a case, would not take the trouble, and especially if, as was really the fact here, the running away is rather a lucky thing for the master; but, that is

falshood too bold for them. They know very well, that they shall be exposed, and that all good men will despise them; but, they value not the opinions of good men; they make sure of the wages of their falshoods and calumnies, and having those,they are perfectly dead to all feelings of shame or of conscience. It is the conduct of their

my house; that thereupon he let the boy go, and that the mother and the two sons went off together.Be this as it may, whether Dubber was thus deceived, or whether he, in conjunction with people at the public-house, connived at the boy's escape (the latter being by far the most probable) the boy did escape; he ran away somewhere, and the mother and her elder son, the pauper plaintiff, made the best of their way towards their home.

employers and prompters that would sur-
prize one, were it not the uniform practice
of such people to give way to their envy
and hatred, and to turn a deaf ear to the
voice of reason. Thus, it is, I think, made
manifest enough, that as far as related
to my servant, Jessc, I acted as became a
master and a public-spirited man. The
mother of the boy came, a few days before
his running away, and got his wages up to
the 1st of March or thereabouts.
It was,
therefore, clear, that the intention was to
get the boy away for the spring and summer,
after having placed him in good keep
during that part of the year when there
was little to do. This is a very common
trick through the country; my neigh-
bours, the farmers, are plagued half out of
their lives with these desertions, which
always take place just as the sun begins
to shine on both sides of the hedge; that
is to say, when those who have been
warmed and fed all the winter, are called
upon to make some remuneration by their
labour. Nothing is so common as the
sending of people to prison for this offence:
Sir Wm. Heathcote, I was told, sent a boy
to prison for the same offence, only a day"
or two before I was at Winchester; but,
Sir Wm. Heathcote was not a person ca-
pable of attracting attention; he was not
a person, whom peculators and hireling
writers found it their interest to misre-
present; he was not a person to excite
the envy and the hatred of so many
wretches, versed in the arts of cowardly
calumny; in short, he had not for his
enemy every public-robber, every low,
dirty, hungry, pettifogging fellow in the
whole county.

--Mr. Astlett, the constable, finding what had taken place, set out, ordering Dubber to go with him, in pursuit of them. The boy was not to be found; but, they took up the brother and the old woman, for having aided in the escape, and these they brought to Botley.- Now, mind, all this had taken place before I had heard even of the escape of the boy. When this had been done, Mr. Astlett came to ask me what he should do with these people; and, my answer was this: "I have nothing to do "with the matter, Astlett, nor do I know "whether you have done right or wrong "but, as you have taken them into custody, I think your best way is to take them before Mr. Smith (at Southampton) "who issued the warrant for taking the "boy up." After this, at the request of Mr. Astlett, I determined on going to Southampton myself; and, having some other business to do with the Justice's Clerk, I told Mr. Astlett that I would meet him at the office, and get him the best advice I could, all along telling him to recollect, that the affair was none of mine; that it was his affair; that it was to him that I had to look for my servant; and that, if the servant was not brought back, I was resolved to punish We must now return to the time when those who had let him escape.Thus far, the boy, Jesse, was first taken up, and when then, as to the taking of the plaintiff, I had the escape, which led to the action, took no hand,nor had I any knowledge. -When place. Mr. ASTLETT, the constable of I was setting off to Southampton, Mr. Astlett Botley, took him, at his father's house, and Dubber were preparing to put the old about six miles from Botley, in the night woman and the plaintiff into a cart to take of the 3rd of March, and brought him to them thither; and I stopped opposite the Botley, to a public-house called the Dol- place where they were, to remind Mr. phin, whither, by the indulgence of the Astlett again, that the affair was no affair constable, he was accompanied by his of mine; that he might take them to mother and his elder brother, WM. BURGESS, Southampton or not, just as he pleased; the pauper plaintiff.In the morning but, that, if he did take them there, I would Mr. Astlett, who is a blacksmith, had oc- get him the best advice I could.---I then casion to go to his own house, and, while proceeded on to the office of the magisaway, he left his prisoner in the hands of trate's clerk, whither I was soon followed the tything man, whose name is DUBBER. by Mr. Astlett and his prisoners. Having While the boy was in the custody of Dub-waited some time for the clerk's return ber, this latter says, that the mother came with a pretended message from me, desiring that the boy might be permitted to come to

home, I went myself to the magistrate, and gave him a full account of what had passed. He said, that, under all the cir

cumstances, the best way, he thought, who was builiff to MR. GOODLAD (whose would be for the constable to let the peo-house stands at a little distance), and ple go, getting them to promise to bring which STONE was also tything-man of the the boy as soon as possible. According-place, came to Dubber, and told him, as ly, when I went back to the clerk's office, Dubber says, to go away, for that he had no I told Mr. Astlett this, and, as it was Sa- business there.-Mr. Goodlad, who lives turday, we got them to promise to bring in the parish of Droxford, and who is a the boy on the next Monday. They justice of the peace, was the master of Wm.. were then suffered to depart, at about Burgess, the pauper plaintiff, and the ocfive o'clock in the evening, having, at the casional employer of others of the family. utmost, been in duress for not more than I knew him pretty well, and he had alnine hours, having suffered no assault, and ways seemed to me to be a very harmless having sustained no other injury than the man. He was, as I am told, a salt-dealer loss of a day's work, which they would in India, and, at his return, like most other have lost, whether they had been forcibly persons who have made fortunes in that detained, or not; seeing that they had country, he built a big white house upon come from home, of their own accord, a hill; and the spot being in the tything of and were, by their own free will, at Bot- Hill, he called his residence Hill Place.→ ley at eight or nine o'clock of the same day. Poor Paull, told me, that, in India, he Their intention was, too, to go to South- went by the name of " honest DICK GOODampton along with the boy; so that, if "LAD;" and, I am ready to confess that ali had went on according to their own his general conduct in our neighbourhood, voluntary intentions, they would have had has well corresponded with this appellato walk the six miles and a half that Mr. tion. He has laboured with great judgAstlett carried them in his taxed cart, and ment and effect in bettering the lot of the would, of course, have suffered more than poor in his parish, and, at the same time, they actually did suffer.Here, then, is, greatly reducing the poor-rates; but, he the mighty" injury"! Here is that "act knows very well, that, even in this way, I "of oppression," which has been blazoned have done a great deal more than he has; he through the country! And here is that, knows very well, that no labourer of mine which, had we not had a jury of sensible could have sworn himself a PAUPER. and honest men, would have extorted a However, he has done a great deal, and, good round sum of money. I believe from very good motives. well satisfied have I been of this, that I, about a year ago, joined with the farmers of the parish in a subscription for the purpose of purchasing him a piece of plate, by way of acknowledgment for the pains he had taken in arranging and conducting the affairs of the parish, particularly relating to the poor.Such being the man, and such my opinion of him, I was very much surprised when the constable told me, that the Burgesses boasted of having the support of Mr. Goodlud. Iaccordingly wrote to him by the constable, stating to him the whole of the circumstances, cautioning him against being deceived by the stories of the Burgesses, and expressing a hope, that he, as a magistrate, who must naturally desire to see the law duly executed, would give the constable countenance and support. To my utter astonishment, the answer I received was, as nearly as I can recollect, this :that the whole of the fault of resistance lay with the constable of Botley, whose IGNORANCE of his duty had induced him to execute a warrant OUT OF HIS OWN HUNDRED; and, not a single word about giving the constable

From this statement, it must be evident to you, Gentlemen, and to every one who shall read this letter, that I had no hand either in the imprisonment, or the detention, of the pauper plaintiff or his mother. Not that I think, that the constable did wrong; for, though it might not be exactly legal, it was quite reasonable, that he should take before the magistrate those who, whether by stratagem or force, had rescued his prisoner. But, though I still think that the constable did right, I had nothing at all to do with the matter, any more than Mr. Borough or old George Rose himself. But now, as to the real source of this action. In about a fortnight after the escape of the boy and the taking up of his brother and mother, Mr. Astlett and Dubber went again in search of the boy, whom they found at his father's house. What took place in the house it is not necessary to state here. Things took this turn, that Mr. Astlett came to Botley for assistance, while Dubber was left in the garden to see that the boy did not escape. Now, observe, the new characters that eume upon the scene.-- - One STONE,

So

countenance and support! The answer further informed me, however, that the old woman and her son William, the pauper plaintiff, had been at the Bench at Droxford, where they had been told, that, if their story was true, they might bring an action for false imprisonment.- -It was from this letter that arose the cross questions, put to the old woman in court, where it appeared that the magistrates at this Bench, sitting in their capacity as magistrates, not only told the old woman and her pauper son, that they had ground of action, but advised them to go to the Attorney (Gunner) for the purpose of commencing the action. They did not send to me, their neighbour; they did not send to Mr. Astlett, one of their peace-officers, and whose " ignorance" entitled him, in a peculiar manner, to their advice; they did not do any thing of this sort, in order to come at the real facts of the case; but, without a moment's delay, counselled an action for false imprisonment, and sent off the people to an Attorney; and, the old woman, upon being asked, whether this bench of magistrates gave her advice to take her run-away son back to his master's service, answered, that they did not.The persons generally composing this bench are the Rev. Mr. Poulter, the Rev. Mr. Baynes, a brother of general Clavering, and Mr. Goodlad. From the old woman's evidence, it appeared, that, upon the occasion now spoken of, there were actually present, besides Mr. Goodlad, only Mr. Baynes and a Mr. Henry Minchin, the former of whom has the merit of having, from very low life (his father having kept an alehouse at Bishop's Waltham) got up to the possession of a pretty good living, after having, I believe, had the honour of being teacher to a son of the bishop of the diocese, who, it will be remembered, is a brother in-law of Poulter. Of Mr. Henry Minchin, the public shall hear some curious particulars another time. At any rate, we are all about upon a footing in respect to birth. The pedigree of none of us need occasion much trouble at the Herald's office; so that, there was nothing, in point of etiquette, to prevent these magistrates from writing to me, or even to the constable, and inquiring into the truth of the matter; for, as to family (of which so much has been said of late) I rather think, that, if the matter were strictly enquired into, of the whole of the parties concerned, the constable would be found at the top of the tree.

action.
gress..

Here, then, we have the origin of the Let us now see a little of its pro-The Attorney was soon in motion. Botley, Droxford, Hill-Pound, Southampton, and the borders of the Forest, heard the sound of his horse's feet, and were struck with the eager countenance of the rider. He went to Mr. Astlett to learn whether I had not a hand in the matter, and Mr. Astlett uniformly assured him, that I had nothing at all to do with either the imprisonment or the detention. Since the Trial, Mr. Astlett has made, before a magistrate at Southampton, an Affidavit, of which the following is a copy :

SOUTHAMPTON. parish of Botley, in the COUNTY OF William Astlett of the said county, constable of the said parish of Botley, personally appeared before me, Richard Vernon Sadlier, Esq. one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the said county of Southampton, and made Oath, That, of the arrest of William Burgess, plaintiff in an action tried at Winchester, on the 20th instant, Wm. Cobbett, Esq. was, as far as this deponent firmly believes, totally ignorant, until after the said arrest had taken place; that this deponent never spoke to, or sơ, Mr. Cobbett [after the escape of the boy Jesse Burgess], until about three hours after the arrest had taken place;that neither at that, or any future, time, did Mr. Cobbett aid, by advice or otherwise, in the imprisonment or detention of the said William Burgess or his mother;- -that Mr. Cobbett, from first to last, said he did not understand the law in this respect, that he would have nothing to do with the matter, and that he (this deponent) might keep the people, or let them go, just as he pleased;

-And that, before the action was brought, he (this deponent) declared all this to Mr. Gunner, the plaintiff's Attorney. (Signed) WILLIAM ASTLETT.

Sworn at the Town and County

of Southampton, this 25th day R. V. SADLIER.
of July, 1809. Before me

Here, then, Gentlemen, you plainly see the reason for making the constable and the tythingman parties along with me. By so doing the schemers deprived me of the possibility of producing evidence to prove that I had nothing to do with the matter.

As to the conduct of the Attorney, that did not at all surprize me, and would surprize nobody. The man was labouring in his vocation. He was earning his

living. It was his calling, that he was at | under the influence of vindictive passions work in; and there are different sorts of than of reason, have, in this, as in many work for attorneys as well as for men of other instances, contributed towards my other callings. But, what shall we say to elevation in their endeavours to pull me Mr. Borough, who talked of the necessity down.In the first place, by the very of making an example of me; who declared noise, that they have made about this acme to be the instigator to the arrest; who tion, without any thing else, they confess mixed up politics with his law; and who, their fear of me, and proclaim their high with all the affectation of sincerity, called opinion of my consequence in the country. upon me, " challenged" me, to produce a There is no man, who reads what they witness to contradict what his witnesses have caused to be published, who must would swear! And all this, when he well not, from the bare magnitude of the pubknew, that the only persons who could pos- | lication, when compared with the result, sibly disprove what the family of Burgess conceive a high notion of the person atwould swear, were made parties along with tacked. He must without any reasoning me, and, by that means, were cut off from at, imbibe a high opinion of my conbeing witnesses; when he well knew, sequence in the country Mr. Borough when he must have known, that this was called me plain the scheme from the beginning!He said, that I was the great aggressor, and that all, or most part, of the damages, ought to fall upon me. Well, then, why was the action brought against Mr. Astlett and Dubber? Why not have attacked me alone? Why harrass and put to expence two men, whom I, as was alledged, had persuaded, if not forced, to act illegally? Why not leave them ont, and have their evidence, which would have been so much more satisfet ry against me, than that of the old woman and her daughter? If the object was to produce truth and general conviction as to my oppressive disposition, why stick me into a record along with a constable and a tything man? Why not, again I say, leave these two men to give evidence against me, the truth of which evidence nobody could have doubted? -It is useless to pursue these questions. Mr. Astlett's Affidavit is an answer to them all; and, I need not say another word, to enable any man of common understanding to affix to the whole of this transaction, and to the several parties concerned in it, the character they deserve, and which character, I trust, they will bear. I will just add, that Mr. Astlett, who is a Blacksmith, is a man of considerable property; that he is not at all under my influence, but, on the contrary, has been supposed to be rather at variance with me, I having, better than a year ago, ceased to employ him, which, before that time, I used to do.

My enemies, which, Gentlemen, are your enemies, and the worst enemies of our Country: I do not mean any poor, paltry things in the country; but our enemies, who have power over the press in London; these enemies, like all men who are more

(6 Colbett," and the Judge, in summing up, observed upon what Mr. Jekyll had said about my being a "public character," that he did not see any reason for giving that appellation to “a man who wrote in a news-paper." With all my heart. I do not want to be, or to be thought, a " public character;" but, the vexation of it is, my enemies, and the enemies of my country, wid make me one; they will insist upon my being a public character; I most be so, in spite of all my efforts to bury myself in woods and in fields. “A man who writes in a news-paper” is an appelation that will do very well for me; but, they will not let me be quiet with it; they will suffer no act of mine, no office of life performed by me, to pass with that degree of notice which is bestowed upon the acts and offices of common men. for instance, Mr. Poulter or Mr. Sturges (who is another very near neighbour of the Burgesses) had happened to have been defendant, the other day, in my place, there would not have been twenty people present to hear the trial; and, if any notice at all of it had been taken in the news-papers, that notice would have been squeezed into three lines. They wish to sink me into oblivion; and, they have so ably managed the matter as to make even the sound of my name sufficient to call together a multitude of people, in any part of the kingdom. When the run-away boy was retaken at Winchester, and I went before the magistrate to give an information against him, the room was instantly filled with black coats and white heads. It was quite charming to see, that the poor had so many friends amongst the fat fellows as embled. I think there were four, who gratuitously pleaded for the boy; while "poor boy!" issued from the mouths.